Australia’s First Utility-Scale Solar Plant

Posted on 31 August 2011 by Sarah Fobes

With production up to 10 megawatts, the new Greenough River Solar Farm will be the biggest operating solar plant in Australia. What will all that energy be used for? A seawater desalination plant in Western Australia that is currently being expanded.

This summer, it was announced that, due to near-drought conditions, the desalination plant capacity would have to be doubled to meet the expected water demands of 2012 and 2013.

“The expansion of the SSDP was necessary because we can no longer rely on rainfall run-off into our dams as a major source of drinking water. This was never more apparent than at the end of the 2010 winter which was the driest since records began. We had to act decisively as a government and take direct action now. This decision is a major step in providing security to our water supplies even in the driest of years,” said Simone Knox, Australian minister for water, in a statement.